'Of a character named Keith in South Wind, Norman Douglas writes, 'He had an encyclopaedic turn of mind; his head, as somebody once remarked, was a lumber-room of useless information' -- 'Lumber' - Nicholson Baker

Friday, May 4, 2012

Review: The Bulletproof Coffin: Disinterred #4

Questions

Do you believe in
the orderliness of events or is your day only ordinary? Have you ever thought
that sequential storytelling shackles the intimacy of creativity? What did you
make of The Bulletproof Coffin: Disinterred
#4? Did you find the warmth of the arts and crafts room with its redolence
of paste comforting that summer you went to the camp by the lake, the one run
by the Catholics? When you see a gimmick or gimcrack, do you look past it or do
you appreciate its novelty? Can you spot allusions to Lovecraft? How do primary
colors make you feel?How was the movie The Avengers? Did you ever wear X-Ray
specs out in public? What sort of grade would you give David Hine on a scale of
one to ten where ten is a genius and one is a quack? Who is Steve Newman,
really? Would you agree with this linear equation: Shaky Kane's style is to
Marvel as Roy Lichtenstein is to DC? Why 84 panels? Did you cut it up? When you
see a humanoid fly, which comes to mind: Kafka, Price, or Cronenberg? Are you
familiar with Padgett Powell'sThe
Interrogative Mood? Has this turned tiresome?

Think of the movie
2001, given only these two choices, would you describe it as 'dull' or similar
to 'masturbation?' Do you think the phrase 'creator-owned' is shorthand for
dissent? Who would win in a fight between the Red Wraith and The Shield of
Justice? Has the self-referential run its course? Does the order of these
questions matter? Did you smile at Kane's Anton LaVey? What frightens you more:
a dentist's drill, a gun, or a hypodermic needle? Where do you stand on quirk?
If I told you each paragraph in this review contains one-hundred words, would
you believe me?

Did you recognize
the King on the throne? What's the point of all this? If Hine asked you to
stand him a pint, would you? Are 'the Beats' still relevant today or merely musty
curios? Are you certain you could not give your mother Bulletproof Coffin: Disinterred #4 to read? Is it the drugs, the
alcohol or the Oreo cookies? If asked to describe Kane's art, are you inclined
to choose the word reductive or grotesque? Would you buy The Latex Mask if it were next to an all-ages comic book? Did you
know George Adamski was a real person?

Are red aliens less or more sinister than
green aliens? Does anatomical correctness factor into your judgment when it
comes to the illustration of a penis? Why aren't more reviews written in the
second-person? Have you ever used the phrase, 'I'll read it in trade' as a
crutch? Has the thought ever occurred to you how fun it would be to own a
functional ray-gun? If Hine wrote poetry do you think it would read as opaque? Did
you notice how often Kane draws circles? If you could call on a 'Dream Detective,' what would you say? What's your story?

2 comments:

I don't think I've seen a review of 'The Bulletproof Coffin' or its spin-off which reflects the tone of the comic quite as well as this does. Good work! To be honest I'm tempted to steal your idea and use it in a review of my own a few years from now. Is that unethical? Either way, if I do I'll be sure to hyperlink it to this.

What's With That Title?

'Interested in sophisticated fun?' is a clearly obscure line from Thomas Pynchon's 1966 'saturnalian doomsday machine,' The Crying of Lot 49. Discovered by one Oedipa Maas -- executrix of the 'estate of one Pierce Inverarity, a California real estate mogul' -- on the wall of the woman's latrine 'among lipsticked obscenities.' 'Neatly indited in engineering lettering it reads [in to to]:Interested in sophisticated fun? You, hubby, girl friends. The more the merrier. Get in touch with Kirby, through WASTE only, Box 7391, LA, " (34).